This year I’ve begun a “Grand Experiment” in Standards Based Grading. Little did I know that I would come to prefer the term Standards Based LEARNING. As it turns out, SBG – done well – requires a change in teaching and learning. Who knew, right? Katie Budrow’s post on students writing their own rubrics is one great example of SBL. Because as students wrestle with how to assess themselves on a learning target, their dong that metacognition thing: thinking about their learning. Enjoy.

Ah, rubrics. The favored tool for assessment by teachers. Loved for their wonderful detail and their range of performance levels, rubrics are a great way to communicate expectations to students.

Just like other teachers, I love a good rubric. There’s just one problem … I’m really horrible at making them.

I’m so horrible, in fact, that I’ve stopped making them altogether.

Instead, the students create the rubrics. It is one of the best decisions I ever made as a teacher, allowing the students to take control over this piece of their learning. The rubrics they create are more detailed, yet easier to understand, than anything I would make for them. Obviously, I have final approval over anything they create, but for the most part, the end product is way better than I ever could have designed.

I often get a lot of questions about how exactly this works in the classroom. The process itself is…

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I share Dorian Love’s concerns about STEAM, so skillfully articulated in one of his recent posts, and reblogged below. True story: I discussed with a couple of colleagues last year my concerns that STEAM (formerly STEM, formerly “We need more Math & Science majors!’) is the most recent iteration of a thoughtful push toward a multidisciplinary teaching approach. And we joked about coining “SHTEAM” as the new goal!

In some quarters Art has rather begrudgingly been added to STEM, and although some definitions include the Humanities, Art is normally conceptualized as the creative arts, visual art, design and possibly music – a catchall for being creative. This leaves disciplines such as History, Philosophy, Language Arts or Literature out in the cold. Again, this depends on those doing the defining, but I would argue that we need to conceptualize STEAM as SHTEAM to make sure that the Humanities are included all the time! I believe this is vital because many begrudge adding even Arts to the equation! Yes, I am being somewhat facetious, because this suggestion, in fact, returns us to where we were before the STEM movement raised its head. SHTEAM is of course nothing but a well-rounded education! And that’s my point!

On my local University campus, you can see the consequences of neglectful thinking. Crossing campus…

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Dueck, Myron. Grading Smarter Not Harder: Assessment Strategies That Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn. Alexandria: ASCD. 2014. Of all the complaints I myself have and hear from my colleagues, grading is probably the most frequent and most frustrating topic. Low achievers are unmotivated; high achievers care only about "points"; and parents get upset with us … Continue reading Grading Smarter Not Harder

I recently had an unplanned absence from my classroom for an entire week. Although I was going out of town, I knew there would be down time allowing me to work remotely. Naturally, my biggest professional concern was what to do about my class. My high school seniors would certainly enjoy the unscheduled time, but I didn't want to lose momentum in this sustainable public policy course.

John Spencer is a very thoughtful teacher, writer, and thinker, with a penchant for design considerations. Before you click away, (caught you didn't I?), this particular post by Spencer is about user experience design. For those of you who know me well, you can probably guess where I'm going with this one. His simple phrase, … Continue reading Designed with the User in Mind